Kilimanjaro 2, Lee's 0

As the title suggests, the Lee's came to conquer the mountain but the mountain conquered us.  Against her better judgement and with much prodding, the dwarf agreed to participate in the 6 day, 5891m hike.  With typical vigor, she threw herself into the task at hand, reading every conceivable blog post, advice forum and chat room she could.  Needless to say, my personality doesn't allow for proper planning (or any planning), relying more on fortitude than brains.  These contrasting approaches served us well in the early days of the hike, as Melissa's equipment and medicinal preparations prolonged our survival for most of days 1 and 2 as we methodically climbed from 1700m, to 2700m, to 3700m.  Day 3 was an extra day of acclimitization at the Horombo huts - it was here that the altitude started to affect the midget - mild headaches, nausea, lack of sleep and loss of appetite were the initial symptoms.  Thankfully, the extra day subsided the worst of it, preparing us for what lay ahead.  Day 4 and day 5 - "the widowmaker" - consisted of an 8am start for a 7km hike to 4700m elevation, followed by a midnight departure for the assault on Kilimanjaro's remaining 1191 metres.  Reports from returning hikers were not encouraging; some guides described the blizzard on Kili the night before as the worse they had seen in a decade and the majority of groups that tried, failed to summit. 

12am, we're woken by Johnny, our head porter.  The sky is crystal clear, the moon is full and the air is crisp and cold.  Both melissa and I are feeling good, buoyed by our luck with the weather. The mountain looks like a Christmas tree with the headlamps of slow moving hikers winding up the narrow paths appearing as hung lights.  It's a truly spectacular sight.  4800m, things are going well.  4900m, the snow begins to become more dense.  5000m - passed without issue.   5100m, Melissa takes her first bathroom break - I complain about having to poop, she passes me an immodium and encourages me to "push through" (pun intended?).  5190m, the path becomes steeper, the hiking becomes slower and our breaks become more frequent.  Melissa's symptoms return suddenly - as she steps, she falls limply.  She takes another bathroom break and tries to lie down on the mountain - a definite no-no.  Our guides exchange concerned looks.  She tries to step again, and again falls limply.  It is no longer a question of summitting, but getting her down the mountain as quickly as possible.  She tells me to go on, gives me the camera and says "see you when you get back."  I watch her and our assistant guide Sayed descend while Joseph (head guide) and I recommence the hike.  I last 10 steps.  My focus is gone as all I can think about is my wife collapsing doing something that I encouraged her to do.  I tell Joseph, he agrees and we head down the mountain so I can be with my dwarf. 

As I type this, I'm surprised that I'm not more dissapointed that we didn't summit.  To not reach that goal after so much physical and mental punishment would seem to be heart-breaking.  But it wasn't.  I met african kinsmen in Joseph, Sayed, Johnny - guys that were working for peanuts a day but we're just as invested as seeing us succeed as we were.  But more importantly, I got to see a side of my wife that I haven't seen before - the one that worked harder for something that I wanted more than I might have worked for her. 

So yes, I will happily payout all the bets that were made against me because it was worth it.  And trust me...I'll be back here to get to the top of this thing one day.

Melissa's Story

Well I think that Arnold pretty much sums up the hike the best and I don't need to add much, but I do want to touch on how things went from my perspective. The hike was truly amazing and I am so happy to have gone through that with Arnold - it is definitely not something I would have done on my own. Will I ever do it again? Not sure - maybe if I were to take Altitude Meds... So now this is where I can start my story.

As we started day 4 up to 4700M we were all in good spirits (despite hearing crazy stories about the conditions up top). But as we reached our lunch point - things started taking a turn for the worse, every bite of food (for me) was torture - I was on the verge of puking everytime I ate or drank, but I kept trying to force food down because I knew I would need the energy. With about 1/2km left to our last check point, things got progressively worse - I would have to rest every 10 steps or so. BUT we finally made it to 4700M - and the first thing I did was lay down - my head hurt and I felt ill. Dinner rolls around and there was no way I was eating. I couldn't - I knew it wouldn't stay down. After dinner we have a "nap" until its time to start the final hike to the summit. When we wake, I actually feel pretty good and I am pretty positive about things. Three hours into our hike and I am still feeling good and can see the summit in sight - we are 1.5hours from the first summit point. And then it hits - NEVER in my life have I ever felt the way I did that night. We reached 5200M and that was it for me. I was done. I would colapse everytime I took a step, they would pick me up and same thing over and over. I made it up to this little rest point and I sat down - all I wanted to do was sleep. I was on the verge of puking, had stomach cramps and felt as though I drank 2 bottles of wine - I felt drunk and so lightheaded. That part of the night is a bit fuzzy for me, but I think its something that Arnold will always remember. Right then and there I knew that I had to get down because I was terrified of what was happening. And maybe that is the worst part - knowing that I now had to climb back down from where we were - maybe a good 2-3kms up. I was stumbling down the mountain and the guide was telling me to go slow, but I couldn't. I would colapse every 3 minutes and he would pick me up and we would start again. I think I made it down the hill in record time haha. Anyways, to finish things off, it was a very scary and horrible feeling for me personally and something that I never wish to repeat. Looking back, I definitely should have taken the meds (as 95% of the people do) and things probably would have turned out better. I'm definitely not disappointed in not reaching the summit because it was such an amazing experience, but I am sad that Arnold didn't get to make it because he most definitely could - the altitude was not harming him in any way. So for all those people that said he wouldn't be able to make it, he must definitely could, but he was just being an amazing husband for me (tear - haha).

Our guide told us that you lose 2kg from the hike, which at first I didn't believe, but now I do - but mostly because I couldn't eat food for the last 48hours of our hike and even today (Saturday night - over a full night back) I still can't eat a lot and don't feel right.  

Maybe another time - but as it stands Kili is most definitely not my friend haha.

Love Arnold and Melissa

PS Pictures from Kenya will have to wait - I hate the internet here ... ugh ... haha